Surface covering and method of making same



Patented Apr. 13, 1937 SURFACE COVERING AND METHOD OF MAK- ING SAME l Philip H. Pennell and Charles H. Draper, Mannheim Township, Lancaster County, Pa., as- I signors to Armstrong Cork Company, Lancaster, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania No Drawing. Application October 3, 1931, Serial No. 566,816

3 Claims.

It is an object of our invention to provide a surface covering of felt that is saturated and decorated in a permanent manner with a minimum of expense. It is a further object of our 5 invention to provide a sheet of felt suitable for use as a floor or wall covering that will retain its decorative effect throughout the life of the felt. It is a further object of our invention to provide a method whereby a sheet of felt may be saturated and decorated in a single operation. Other objects of our invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art to which it appertains upon reading the annexed specification.

The saturant commonly used in flooring felt is asphalt. This saturant necessitates the use of a backing to prevent the staining of floors by the asphalt and a seal coat to prevent the staining of the decorative pattern by the bleeding of the asphalt into the pattern coat. These backings and seal coats are a source of trouble in that they seldom seal perfectly and they tend to reduce the flexibility of the sheet. The backing has a further drawback in that it causes abrasionof the pattern when the sheet is rolled for shipment.

" Another disadvantage of the asphalt saturated sheet is that it does not recover readily after indentation, thus giving rise to an unsightly appearance and to unsatisfactory wear. An asphalt saturant is obviously unsuited for combination with any decorative pigment because of the objectionable color of the asphalt.

Saturants composed of drying oils, such as linseed,'tung and the like have been tried. These saturants have not proved satisfactory because in drying them an excessive quantity of heat is liberated so that spontaneous combustion with active burning of the saturated felt frequently results.

We have devised a method whereby it is possible for us to use either drying or semi-drying oils, either alone or in combination with each other as a saturant for felt. The difficulties in connection with their use are eliminated by the pre-oxidation of the oil.

' We pre-oxidize any suitable oil or mixture of oils which may include linseed oil, China-wood oil, fish oil, corn oil, soya bean oil, or any oil of a similar nature, to the point at which a solid gel results when the batch is cooled to 70 F. We prefer, generally, to use some drying oil with any of the semi-drying oils in order to speed up the drying of the saturant.

The gel thus formed is heated in a kettle at a suitable temperature with a suitable synthetic 55 or natural resin. We add sufficient resin to pro- (Cl. til-67.9)

duce the desired physical properties in the saturant. After heating the mix until a complete fusion of resin and gel has resulted, we may thin harden in the felt without the evolution of any appreciable amount of heat. Accordingly, the desirable properties of the oleoresinous type of saturant are realized without the danger. hf active combustion.

As an example of a suitable saturant, we may oxidize 1300 pounds of linseed oil and 200 pounds of corn oil at 180 F. in a mechanical oxidizing machine until a firm, non-sticky gel results on cooling. 400 pounds of rosin, 100 pounds of paracoumarone resin and the above gel are added in a kettle at 437 F. until a completely homogeneous liquid results. This liquid is then thinned in a kettle with 500 pounds of mineral spirit paint thinner and used at a temperature of'l45 F. Alternatively, the mineral thinner may be omitted and the felt saturated with the molten saturant at 425 F.

It will be understood that the above formula is recited only as an example and that the scope of the invention includes other resins, other oils, other combinations of oils and resins, and other manipulations. We may change the formula for the saturant in order to impart special properties to the saturant. For example, we

may increase the softness and flexibility of the saturant by increasing the corn oil content. We may make the saturant softer and more sticky by reducing the proportion of resin used. By decreasing the degree of oxidation of the oil, we obtain a saturant of a more oily type.

A satisfactory saturant may be formed from any suitable drying or semi-drying oil or any mixture thereofwithout the addition of any resin. As an example, we may use a mixture of 1200 pounds of linseed oil and 300 pounds of corn oil. In this case, we stop the oxidation of the oil just short of thepoint where a solid gel would result on cooling. If the oil is oxidized to a solid gel, as is the case when resin is to be added, the gel can not be dissolved or dispersed in volatile solvents. By stopping the oxidation short of the solid gel stage, we obtain a pro-oxidized oil that is still soluble in suitable volatile solvents, such as hydrocarbon distillates of either the saturated or unsaturated type. This pro-oxidized oil satcolor to the saturant when added thereto.

urant will dry without liberating sufiicient heat to ignite the saturated sheet during the drying process.

The degree of pre-oxidation of the drying or semi-drying oil may be varied to some extent. The oil is always sufficiently pre-oxidized so as to prevent any danger of combustion when the saturant is hardened. By pre-oxidizing the oil, We also shorten the period of time required for drying the sheet after it has been impregnated with the saturant. This is an important item in that it speeds up the entire process.

The use of saturants of pre-oxidized oils, either with or without the addition of resins, will impart to a felt a clean and unstained surface. The unstained appearance of the surface will not depend upon the effectiveness of the seal coat because the saturant, after hardening, will be insoluble in any paint or lacquer vehicle. Accordingly, we may use a saturant such as we have described without any seal coat and may decorate the surface of the felt by means of any suitable pigment after the saturant has hardened.

We may combine the steps of saturating and decorating the felt by adding a suitable pigment to the saturant before the saturant is applied to the felt. The pigment added may be an inorgarlic pigment such as umber, chrome green, chrome yellow, or the like, or it may be an organic pigment such as lithol red, toluidine red,

or the like. However, we are not restricted to pigments of the classes described. We intend the term pigment to be broad enough to include the class of fillers which will impart a characteristic Examples of such materials are lithopone, titanium oxide, zinc sulphide and the like. We may add a filler such as whiting or china clay to the saturant to add to its body.

.The single step of impregnating the felt with the combined saturant and pigment will effectively saturate and decorate the felt. The pigment may be applied to the felt as a solid color, or different pigments combined with portions of the saturant may be applied to a sheet of felt to form any suitable design. The combined pigment and saturant can be applied to the felt in any desired design by means of a printing machine commonly used to print designs on felt base floor coverings. Although the saturant will impregnate the felt, the printing machine will not allow suflicient time to elapse between the successive printing operations for the pigment to spread and run laterally of the sheet.

It will be seen that we have devised a felt saturant that may be hardened in a comparatively short period of time without any danger of combustion. The saturant is also capable of being pigmented so that the felt may be saturated and decorated in a single operation.

Although we have not specified any particular type of felt, it will be understood that any felt that is capable of forming a base for a fioor or wall covering may be treated in the manner we have described. The requisite characteristics for suitable felts are strength and porosity. We have found rag felts, rag-paper felts, and alpha cellulose felts are particularly suitable for use in connection with our invention,

While we have disclosed certain specific embodiments of our invention, it will be understood that details thereof maybe varied without departing from the spirit or scope of our invention and we do not desire to be bound by the specific examples cited except as set forth in the appended claims. y

We claim:

1'. A surface covering material comprising an absorbent felt web and pigmented waterproof materials carried by said web in design relation throughout substantially its entire area extending thereinto and filling the voids therein, said materials each including an oil preoxidized to the point where a substantially solid gel results at a temperature of about F. and collectively constituting a waterproofing, protecting and decorative medium for said Web.

2. A surface covering comprising an absorbent felt web carrying throughout its area a plurality of pigmented waterproof materials disposed in design relation, each of said materials being composed of a mixture of an oil preoxidized to the point where a substantially solid gel results at a temperature of about 70 F., a resin and a pigment, and differing from one another by the character of its pigment, said materials filling the voids in the web and constituting a waterproof, decorative and protective saturant for said web.

3. In the method of forming a decorated surface covering, the steps consisting in applying a plurality of pigmented waterproof materials containing an oil preoxidized to the point where a substantially solid gel results at a temperature of about 70 F. to an absorbent felt web in design relation to simultaneously deco-rateand protectively saturate the web by filling the voids therein and by imparting color to the surface and interior thereof; and drying said web.

1 PHILIP H. PENNELL.

CHARLES H. DR-APER. 

